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THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



SECTION VIII. 



Miscellaneous Crops* 



BROOM MILLET.* 



From time to time inquiries are received by the Department from different 

 parts of the State for information regarding the cultivation, harvesting, and 

 marketing of broom millet. In recent years the price has fluctuated consider- 

 ably, according to the supply and deaiand, and in the seasons which follow 

 an unusually high market many farmers attempt to grow this crop who have 

 but a slight knowledge of the requirements of the plant, and of the practical 

 details from the selection of the seed to the harvesting, curing, baling, and 

 marketing of the brush. The result is that the market is glutted with millet 

 of inferior quality, and the returns give little, if any, profit to the grower. 

 Besides this, manufacturers, in order to obtain the quality necessary for 

 making their best goods, are compelled to import a large proportion of their 

 supplies. We have in New South Wales soil and climate fully capable of 

 producing the very best quality, and it is significant that those growers, whose 

 practical knowledge teaches them to produce only the very best, are hand- 

 somely repaid for their outlay. 



At the present time there is a Federal duty of 8s. per cental on broom 

 millet, and with this protection there is no reason why we should not only 

 produce enough for our own requirements, but become exporters as well. 



The following table will convey an idea of the area under cultivation since 

 the season 1910-11 : — 



Season. 



Weight of Fibre in 

 cwts. 



Average Yield of 

 Fibre per acre 

 in cwts. 



* Compiled from articles by G. Marks, Manager, Grafton Experiment Farm, and 

 J. M. Pitt, Inspector of Agriculture. 



